Daniel Seahorn
On the 40
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- Oct 15, 2015
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Things didn’t go according to plan from the jump with Sam Ehlinger suffering a shoulder injury during the first series of the football game, but the Longhorns managed to gut out a win against the pesky Bears of Waco and move on to 6-1 and become bowl eligible. The Longhorns have now won 6 in a row and still have a chance to accomplish the goals they set out for at the start of the season. The main thing right now is for them to get healthy and nurse some bumps and bruises before heading to Stillwater to take on the Cowboys.
Here’s what I got on the old noggin after today’s tight contest against Baylor.
This game had a hard left turn in the first offensive series for Texas with Ehlinger suffering a shoulder injury that would eventually rule him out for the rest of the game. This means backup quarterback Shane Buechele was called in cold to guide the ship for the rest of the contest. Buechele hasn’t received a game snap all year long and he was thrown right into the pressure cooker. Thankfully the junior quarterback has several starts under his belt and he was able to lean on that experience to help get the Longhorns across the finish line today with a win today.
Don’t get it twisted though. Ehlinger going out early completely changed the dynamics of this ball game and how the Texas offense typically operates. The designed quarterback runs were out of the window, Ehlinger’s ability to improvise and hurt a defense with his feet was gone, and most importantly, the steady hand that has guided the Texas offense all year long was gone. Nobody really knew what to expect when Buechele was thrust into action this afternoon. He made some nice throws, lead some solid drives, but he also had one interception on a ball that he overshot on a post that ended up being turned into points for Baylor.
On the flip side of things, the Texas defense had a solid day at the office, but with the offense handling some adversity they had a tall task of slowing down an offense that could put up points and put them up in bunches. The secondary had some forgettable moments today (particularly on third down and long), but at the end of the day they were able to hold the Baylor offense to 17 points and 328 offense. When you take into account that a good chunk of that came on the final drive when the Bears started in the shadows of their own goal posts, then it’s not too bad in the grand scheme of things.
This wasn’t a style point game like many hoped it would be and it wasn’t always pretty, but it was still a win nonetheless and you will take them however you can get them.
Coming into the contest, Texas had yet to tally a 100 yard rusher, but that came to end via freshman running back Keaontay Ingram. Ingram led the Texas rushing attack to the tune of 110 yards on 19 carries (5.78 YPC) and he dazzled with some really nice runs and showed off his vision and patience that made one of best high school backs in the country.
Ingram flashes remarkable traits and he often seems to get positive yardage when it looks like he is going to be tackled for a loss or no gain. There were times where I could see penetration from the Baylor front before Ingram got to the LOS and he still managed to squeeze through the hole and pop out on the other side. Mind you this is all transpiring after Tom Herman said that Ingram isn’t playing at 100% from the injury that caused him to miss a game earlier this year.
The future is bright for #26 in burnt orange and he looks like he is getting better every week and with every carry he gets.
Freshman kicker Cameron Dicker showed today that even after draining a game winning kick against Oklahoma last week and making three field goals afternoon, that he is in fact capable of human error and missing some crucial kicks . The freshman from Lake Travis started the day 3 for 3 before missing two kicks (both his shortest and longest attempts) that would have put the game out of reach for Baylor as they tried to scramble late and pull off the upset.
It may sound like I’m nitpicking here on a freshman, but when points were at a premium like they were today, you have to push one of those through and give yourself a little more wiggle room.
The Texas defense only allowed 240 yards passing today against a pretty good offense, but they were also fortunate in some cases that it wasn’t more and that it didn’t end up leading to more points. This is going to feel like I’m calling some guys out, but when Baylor needed a big play or was in a crucial spot they seemed to always go at whoever PJ Locke or Davante Davis was covering and they were often successful.
Both Davis and Locke have spilled blood for the program and have been solid citizens, but it seems obvious at times that teams are picking on them and that extends past just this season. I’ve been quietly wondering if the defensive staff would start working in some alternative options, but as the seasons has moved forward they’ve continued to roll with their guys.
I don’t have access to how practices play out, so I’m not sure if guys like Josh Thompson or Anthony Cook aren’t doing enough to unseat the veterans, but I know what I see on Saturdays hasn’t been great and eventually it could get this team beat if the right opponent presents itself and finds ways to expose it.
I hate ending on a sour note, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad bit concerned about the injury that kept Ehlinger for essentially the entire ball game. When Ehlinger emerged from the locker room, most thought he was just getting the cut on his hand addressed, but others noticed he was not really moving his shoulder as he moved around. Herman addressed the media after the game and disclosed that Ehlinger had suffered a AC sprain in his throwing shoulder and that they were hopeful that he could be throwing by the end of the week.
The silver lining is that Texas is heading into a bye week, so Texas has an extra week to get 11 healthy if they think he can go against Oklahoma State or if he does have to miss a game they have an extra week to get Buechele reps and game ready for road test against a team that Texas has struggled with in recent contests.
The down side of things is that injury of this nature could take several weeks to fully heal and with Ehlinger being as important as he is to the team you may not want to risk further aggravating the injury and doing more long term damage. Needless to say this is going to be something to monitor closely as the matchup gets closer a couple weeks from now.
Here’s what I got on the old noggin after today’s tight contest against Baylor.
- · It Wasn’t Pretty… But It Was A Win
This game had a hard left turn in the first offensive series for Texas with Ehlinger suffering a shoulder injury that would eventually rule him out for the rest of the game. This means backup quarterback Shane Buechele was called in cold to guide the ship for the rest of the contest. Buechele hasn’t received a game snap all year long and he was thrown right into the pressure cooker. Thankfully the junior quarterback has several starts under his belt and he was able to lean on that experience to help get the Longhorns across the finish line today with a win today.
Don’t get it twisted though. Ehlinger going out early completely changed the dynamics of this ball game and how the Texas offense typically operates. The designed quarterback runs were out of the window, Ehlinger’s ability to improvise and hurt a defense with his feet was gone, and most importantly, the steady hand that has guided the Texas offense all year long was gone. Nobody really knew what to expect when Buechele was thrust into action this afternoon. He made some nice throws, lead some solid drives, but he also had one interception on a ball that he overshot on a post that ended up being turned into points for Baylor.
On the flip side of things, the Texas defense had a solid day at the office, but with the offense handling some adversity they had a tall task of slowing down an offense that could put up points and put them up in bunches. The secondary had some forgettable moments today (particularly on third down and long), but at the end of the day they were able to hold the Baylor offense to 17 points and 328 offense. When you take into account that a good chunk of that came on the final drive when the Bears started in the shadows of their own goal posts, then it’s not too bad in the grand scheme of things.
This wasn’t a style point game like many hoped it would be and it wasn’t always pretty, but it was still a win nonetheless and you will take them however you can get them.
- · Keaontay Ingram Goes Over The Century Mark
Coming into the contest, Texas had yet to tally a 100 yard rusher, but that came to end via freshman running back Keaontay Ingram. Ingram led the Texas rushing attack to the tune of 110 yards on 19 carries (5.78 YPC) and he dazzled with some really nice runs and showed off his vision and patience that made one of best high school backs in the country.
Ingram flashes remarkable traits and he often seems to get positive yardage when it looks like he is going to be tackled for a loss or no gain. There were times where I could see penetration from the Baylor front before Ingram got to the LOS and he still managed to squeeze through the hole and pop out on the other side. Mind you this is all transpiring after Tom Herman said that Ingram isn’t playing at 100% from the injury that caused him to miss a game earlier this year.
The future is bright for #26 in burnt orange and he looks like he is getting better every week and with every carry he gets.
- · Dicker The Kicker Is Mortal
Freshman kicker Cameron Dicker showed today that even after draining a game winning kick against Oklahoma last week and making three field goals afternoon, that he is in fact capable of human error and missing some crucial kicks . The freshman from Lake Travis started the day 3 for 3 before missing two kicks (both his shortest and longest attempts) that would have put the game out of reach for Baylor as they tried to scramble late and pull off the upset.
It may sound like I’m nitpicking here on a freshman, but when points were at a premium like they were today, you have to push one of those through and give yourself a little more wiggle room.
- · The Secondary Has Some Sore Spots That Need Addressing
The Texas defense only allowed 240 yards passing today against a pretty good offense, but they were also fortunate in some cases that it wasn’t more and that it didn’t end up leading to more points. This is going to feel like I’m calling some guys out, but when Baylor needed a big play or was in a crucial spot they seemed to always go at whoever PJ Locke or Davante Davis was covering and they were often successful.
Both Davis and Locke have spilled blood for the program and have been solid citizens, but it seems obvious at times that teams are picking on them and that extends past just this season. I’ve been quietly wondering if the defensive staff would start working in some alternative options, but as the seasons has moved forward they’ve continued to roll with their guys.
I don’t have access to how practices play out, so I’m not sure if guys like Josh Thompson or Anthony Cook aren’t doing enough to unseat the veterans, but I know what I see on Saturdays hasn’t been great and eventually it could get this team beat if the right opponent presents itself and finds ways to expose it.
- · The Injury of Sam Ehlinger
I hate ending on a sour note, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad bit concerned about the injury that kept Ehlinger for essentially the entire ball game. When Ehlinger emerged from the locker room, most thought he was just getting the cut on his hand addressed, but others noticed he was not really moving his shoulder as he moved around. Herman addressed the media after the game and disclosed that Ehlinger had suffered a AC sprain in his throwing shoulder and that they were hopeful that he could be throwing by the end of the week.
The silver lining is that Texas is heading into a bye week, so Texas has an extra week to get 11 healthy if they think he can go against Oklahoma State or if he does have to miss a game they have an extra week to get Buechele reps and game ready for road test against a team that Texas has struggled with in recent contests.
The down side of things is that injury of this nature could take several weeks to fully heal and with Ehlinger being as important as he is to the team you may not want to risk further aggravating the injury and doing more long term damage. Needless to say this is going to be something to monitor closely as the matchup gets closer a couple weeks from now.
